MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — The trophy Silverdale Baptist Academy’s softball program will bring back from the Spring Fling this time is silver, but the effort was once again gold standard.
The Lady Seahawks’ two-year run as TSSAA Division II-A state champions ended Thursday with a tough 4-3 loss to Donelson Christian Academy in a winner-take-all game at Middle Tennessee State University, but not before proving once again why Silverdale has become one of Tennessee’s toughest programs to put away in any classification.
After being soundly beaten Wednesday in their state tournament opener — DCA won 10-0 — the Lady Seahawks battled back for two victories while facing elimination later in the day to return to the championship series. Needing two wins against DCA (33-6) to three-peat, the Lady Seahawks (30-9-2) nearly completed that difficult task.
In game one of the series early Thursday afternoon, the Lady Seahawks were down to their final strike before rallying to force a deciding game. Trailing by a run in the top of the seventh with the bases loaded but two outs and a two-strike count, senior Gabby Hensley slapped a two-run single and Bita Cox followed with a two-run double that made it 6-3.
Cox then sealed the win in the pitching circle by working around DCA’s two-out single in the bottom half without allowing a run.